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The Description of Music, Sound, or Odor
117. The Description of Music, Sound, or Odor. —MonvE IX. Unity of impression lies in the use of a fundamental quality in the following descrip¬tions of music, sound, and odor : A. DESCRIPTION OF MUSIC. MODEL Suddenly the notes of the deep-laboring organ burst upon the ear, falling with doubled and redoubled inten¬sity, and rolling, as it were, huge billows of sound. How well do their volume and grandeur accord with this mighty building ! With what pomp do they swell through its vast vaults, and breathe their awful har¬mony through these caves of death, and make the silent sepulcher vocal ! And now they rise in triumph and acclamation, heaving higher and higher their accordant notes, and piling sound on sound. And now they pause, and the soft voices of the -choir break out into sweet gushes of melody ; they soar aloft, and warble along the roof, and seem to play about these lofty vaults like the pure airs of heaven. Again the pealing organ heaves its thrilling thunders, compressing air into music, and rolling it forth upon the soul. What long drawn cadences ! What solemn sweeping concords ! It grows more and more dense and powerful—it fills the vast pile, and seems to jar the very walls—the air is stunned—the senses are overwhelmed. And now it is winding up in full jubilee—it is rising from the earth to heaven — the very soul, seems rapt away and floated upwards on this swelling tide of harmony. -WASHINGTON IRVING, The Sketch-Book. ANALYSIS OF THE MODEL 1. The paragrafth structure is the same as in Motive I. Prove the above statement, determining first what the funda¬mental quality is, then where it is stated, how enforced, and whether the last sentence summarizes the whole description. 2. The material used is: The effect produced (a) on the senses ; (b) on the building con¬taining the instrument or singer ; © on the mind. What are the special effects mentioned in the model? 3. The devices used in the handling of the material are: The description of the sounds as in action. Find example of this device in the model. Find examples of the use of the exclamatory sentence. Is it effective ? Find three metaphors and a simile. B. DESCRIPTION OF A SOUND. MODEL I find the sound of the mowing-machine and the patent reaper are . . . . in tune with the voices of Nature at this season season of summer harvesting. The characteristic sounds of midsummer are the sharp, whir¬ring crescendo of the cicada or harvest fly, and the rasp¬ing, stridulous notes of the nocturnal insects. The mow¬ing-machine repeats and imitates these sounds. 'T is like the hum of a locust or the shuffling of a mighty grasshopper The timothy stalk is like a file; the ryestraw is glazed with flint; the grasshoppers snap sharply as they fly up in front of you ; the bird- songs have ceased ; the ground crackles under foot ; the eye of day is brassy and merciless ; and in harmony with all these things is the rattle of the mower and hay-tedder. -JOHN BURROUGHS, Birds and Poets. ANALYSIS OF THE MODEL I. The paragrafth structure is the same as in Motive I. Prove this statement by determining first what the fundamental quality is, then looking for the characterizing and summarizing sentences at the beginning and the end. Show that each of the other sentences enforces the fundamental quality. 2. The material used: Find a series of comparisons between this and other similar sounds. 3. Devices used in the handling of material: Two similes are used. See if you can find them. Find also a metaphor. MODEL I am thrilled by its April's fresh and indescribable odors—the perfume of the bursting sod, of the quick¬ened roots and rootlets, of the mould under the leaves, of the fresh furrows. No other month has odors like it. The west wind the other day came fraught with a perfume that was to the sense of smell what a wild and delicate strain of music is to the ear. It was almost transcendental. I walked across the hill with my nose in the air taking it in I imagined it came from the willows of a distant swamp, whose catkins were affording the bees their first pollen ; or did it come from much farther,— from beyond the horizon, the accumulated breath of innumerable farms and budding forests ? The main characteristic of these April odors is their uncloying freshness. -JOHN BURROUGHS, Birds and Poets. ANALYSIS OF l'IlE MODEL I. The fiaragrafth structure if the same as in Descrzpion¬motive I. Prove this statement by determining first fundamental quality as before. 2. The material used to develofi this motive is a. The effect upon the senses. b. The effect upon the mind. Find the sentences above which give the effect on the senses; on the mind. 3. Devices used in the handling- of material: Find an instance of the use of the rhetorical question.